Sadly the Focus and I have parted company. After a year and nearly 13,000 miles, it's gone back to Ford and on to a new owner.

Now it's gone, my feelings are mixed but mostly positive. I loved driving it – slightly slow low-rev responses apart – and it did everything I asked it to do, be that popping to the shops or a 200-mile Friday-evening dash to the West Country. In short, it was fun and easy to live with.

I wish it had been more economical, though, and that the cabin had looked and felt nicer.

Still, that isn't enough to stop me recommending the Focus to anyone in the market for a small family car, especially if they enjoy driving.

Keep an eye on whatcar.com for my final report on my time with the car; it'll be published in the next few weeks.

Barnaby.Jones@whatcar.com

Week ending June 7Current mileage 12,853Driven this week 311 miles

This week I had to go up to Birmingham for a What Car? Reader Test Team event. As a videographer, I take some bulky equipment with me, and the Focus's boot swallowed everything I threw at it. This meant that our 'precious cargo' was out of sight from prying eyes, too.

It was the refinement of the little 1.0-litre Ecoboost engine that impressed me the most, though. The gearchange was also fantastic and there was no momentary judder when you shift down a gear; the Focus just happily jumped down a cog and got on with it.

Another impressive area was the fuel economy. Admittedly, three quarters of my journey was done at about 65mph on the motorway (I was in no rush), but the trip computer said I'd managed an encouraging 48mpg.

Overall, for such a basic model, the Focus Zetec was really easy to live with; it was comfortable, nice to drive and did everything I needed it to.